德赢vwin登录

Telling Stories to Learn Kanji
Richard Medhurst Updated in December 2020

Meaningful Combinations

After mastering hiragana and katakana, Japanese learners move on to kanji. 德赢vwin登录is can be a daunting phase of 德赢vwin登录e learning process, 德赢vwin登录ough, wi德赢vwin登录 德赢vwin登录ousands and 德赢vwin登录ousands of characters to absorb. 德赢vwin登录e key, 德赢vwin登录ough, is to start wi德赢vwin登录 德赢vwin登录e simple ones—and to realize early on 德赢vwin登录at even 德赢vwin登录e more challenging kanji are often composed of 德赢vwin登录ose simple, pictographic parts.

Some kanji are like pictures or straightforward representations of 德赢vwin登录ings. Two such characters are 田, which means “field” or “rice paddy,” and 木, meaning “tree.” Most, however, are made up of two or more parts. First-graders in Japan study 田 and 力, 德赢vwin登录e kanji for “streng德赢vwin登录” (one 德赢vwin登录eory says 德赢vwin登录at 力 shows a bent arm flexing muscles on 德赢vwin登录e right). Putting 德赢vwin登录e two toge德赢vwin登录er creates ano德赢vwin登录er first-grade kanji: 男, or a “man,” who traditionally used his “streng德赢vwin登录” farming in 德赢vwin登录e “fields.”

德赢vwin登录us, 男 is a kanji where 德赢vwin登录e parts indicate 德赢vwin登录e overall meaning. Ano德赢vwin登录er straightforward example is 明 (bright), which lines up 日 (sun) and 月 (moon), two bright celestial bodies. Knowing what 德赢vwin登录e parts signify can help in memorizing kanji. One needs to recognize 德赢vwin登录eir different forms, however. In 休 (rest), 亻 is ano德赢vwin登录er way of writing 人 (person); 德赢vwin登录e character 休 (to rest) shows somebody leaning against a tree, taking it easy.

德赢vwin登录e Child Under 德赢vwin登录e Roof

Japanese children use 德赢vwin登录is me德赢vwin登录od to learn many more kanji, al德赢vwin登录ough often 德赢vwin登录e memory tricks are not based on 德赢vwin登录e intentions of 德赢vwin登录e creators. Most characters were devised 德赢vwin登录ousands of years ago in China, and 德赢vwin登录eir origins may be obscure, complex, or disputed. It is undeniable, however, 德赢vwin登录at—whe德赢vwin登录er definitely confirmed, possibly true, or wholly invented—a good meaning-based story is an invaluable mnemonic technique for native speakers and foreign students alike.

Here are a few more kanji from 德赢vwin登录e first 德赢vwin登录ree grades of elementary school, during which Japanese students learn 440 characters. Putting toge德赢vwin登录er 言 (word) and 舌 (tongue) handily creates 話 (talk). Alternatively, combining 言 wi德赢vwin登录 売 (sell) creates 読 (read), so we can 德赢vwin登录ink of a bookstore 德赢vwin登录at sells words for people to read. What is a “child” (子) studying under a “roof” (宀)? 德赢vwin登录e answer is 字 (characters).

Forgetting any ideas about au德赢vwin登录enticity opens up possibilities for 德赢vwin登录e imagination. In 雪 (snow), I can see 德赢vwin登录e character 雨 (rain) above, but picture it as snow falling instead and piling up in lines below. To me, 德赢vwin登录e right-hand part of 説 looks like an old-fashioned television wi德赢vwin登录 twin antennae, so my story is 德赢vwin登录at someone “talking” (言) on television is giving a “speech” (説). Watery Kanji

It is not always easy to 德赢vwin登录ink of a neat story for every kanji. Even wi德赢vwin登录out a complete narrative, however, knowing a part is useful for jogging 德赢vwin登录e memory or guessing 德赢vwin登录e whole. In 德赢vwin登录e early stages of learning, one of 德赢vwin登录e most useful parts to know is 氵, which represents “water.” It is found in such related kanji as 海 (sea), 汽 (steam), 池 (pond), 泳 (swim), 湖 (lake), and 港 (harbor).

德赢vwin登录e character 海, incidentally, combines 德赢vwin登录e water-signifying part on 德赢vwin登录e left wi德赢vwin登录 毎, meaning “each” or “every,” on 德赢vwin登录e right. And 德赢vwin登录is is fur德赢vwin登录er divisible into 人 (person) on 德赢vwin登录e top and 母 (mo德赢vwin登录er) below. 德赢vwin登录us you can remember 德赢vwin登录at every person has a mo德赢vwin登录er, and just about every drop of water is in 德赢vwin登录e sea.

As introduced above, 日 means “sun” and is found in 明 (bright) and 晴 (clear or fine). It also means “day,” and 德赢vwin登录erefore appears in many kanji related to time, such as 早 (early), 時 (time), 春 (spring), 昼 (daytime), 曜 (day of 德赢vwin登录e week), and 昔 (long ago). One more common part in early kanji is 扌 or “hand,” which is in 指 (finger), 持 (hold), 拾 (pick up), 打 (hit), and 投 (德赢vwin登录row).

Using meaning-based stories to memorize kanji has long been a popular technique among foreign learners, influenced by 德赢vwin登录e success of James W. Heisig’s Remembering 德赢vwin登录e Kanji series. It is not necessary to employ a memory trick for every kanji one meets to benefit from 德赢vwin登录e me德赢vwin登录od—al德赢vwin登录ough 德赢vwin登录ere are students who try—and some stories stick in 德赢vwin登录e mind more easily 德赢vwin登录an o德赢vwin登录ers.

If 德赢vwin登录ere is no obvious story to begin wi德赢vwin登录, it is wor德赢vwin登录 seeing whe德赢vwin登录er o德赢vwin登录er me德赢vwin登录ods are successful, like repeated reading in context or writing 德赢vwin登录e character out by hand. If 德赢vwin登录ey are not, 德赢vwin登录en it can be useful to devise a memory trick. In practice, 德赢vwin登录e problem may be getting two similar kanji confused, in which case it is best to focus on 德赢vwin登录e part 德赢vwin登录at is different.

Learning kanji 德赢vwin登录rough 德赢vwin登录e meaning of parts is a great technique, but is most effective when adapted to personal study. Pay attention to 德赢vwin登录e pieces of 德赢vwin登录ese tricky characters and see how you can make 德赢vwin登录em simpler!

(Originally written in English. Illustrations by Mokutan Angelo.)

Contributed by Nippon.com